We all know past childhood or teenage horrors/troubles of such celebrities as Judy Garland, Macaulay Culkin, River Phoenix or Lindsay Lohan. We also know the examples of successful transitions from child actors to adult stars, such as the Harry Potter cast. In this post, I would like to highlight three child actors (some alive and some already dead) who were essentially let down by Hollywood, and their cases were really such that more effort and support should have been given to see these child actors’ transition to adult actors or adults with other careers – especially since so much was done by Hollywood to elevate them to their “star” status from their very young ages.
Category: Film Articles
“Toy Story” vs. “The Christmas Toy” (1986)
Since the new trailer for Pixar’s Toy Story 4 is already released, it is perhaps time to talk again about the trilogy and its dubious origin and inventiveness. Since the release of the first Toy Story animation in 1995, there have been comparisons made between it and The Jim Henson Company’s television puppet film for children of 1986 – The Christmas Toy. I will again revisit and comment on this comparison, taking into account the ideas presented in the new Toy Story 4 trailer. The point is that Toy Story is The Christmas Toy in a nutshell – creators of Toy Story surely must have thought about The Christmas Toy when they were creating Toy Story.
What Some Films Really Cost to Produce: Accidents When Filming
The intention of this post is not to depress or offend anyone. As most of you will know, yesterday, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts announced a new category of award called “Achievement in Popular Film”. My point is that, rather than devising this preposterous category, it would have been better for the Academy to finally recognise the invaluable contribution of stunt performers, who sometimes risk their lives to make a great scene for us all to enjoy. What follows are ten instances where the process of making an action film did not go as planned so as to demonstrate that film-making can be dangerous and, thus, the bravery, artistry and contribution of stunt performers (crew/coordinators) should be recognised.
Mirrors in Films: Duality, Secrets and Revelations, and the Passage to the Otherworld
In this piece, I am focusing on three interpretations of mirrors in films: (i) the character’s dual nature; (ii) secrets revelation; and (iii) clandestine passage to the Otherworld.
Gloves in Films: Hiding True Character and Desires
This will be my 200th post on this website, and I thought I would do something different. I have always been fascinated with objects and their symbolic meanings in films, and some object-placements in films evoke powerful imagery that is open to different symbolic interpretations. On the face of it, gloves in films do not…
Film vs. Book: Shyamalan’s “The Village” & Haddix’s “Running Out of Time”
“The Village” is a 2004 film directed by M. Night Shyamalan (“The Sixth Sense” (1999) and starring Joaquin Phoenix, Adrien Brody, Sigourney Weaver, William Hurt and Bryce Dallas Howard. “Running Out of Time” is a popular 1996 book by Margaret Peterson Haddix for young adults about a girl (Jessie) in a 19th century village who is sent on a mission to town to look for medicine to cure a diphtheria epidemic in her village. Even though the plots of both “The Village” and “Running Out of Time” look different, there are considerable similarities between the two. The ways in which the book and the film are similar speak volumes when one considers the most important things of both: “Running Out of Time”’s narrative and “The Village”’s final plot twist.
Is Aronofsky’s Black Swan Perfectly Blue?: Kon’s “Perfect Blue” vs. “Black Swan”
In this piece, I will compare the two films closely, arguing that the two share substantial similarities in terms of their stories, characters, styles, designs, & execution, concluding that Aronofsky’s film Black Swan can easily pass for a “remake” of Kon’s anime Perfect Blue.
Ayoade’s “The Double” vs. Villeneuve’s “Enemy”
The question of personal identity and its duplication have been fascinating people for centuries. From Edgar Allan Poe’s William Wilson to Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake, the theme has been pervasive in almost every form of art. When it comes to films, such works as Sommersby (1993), Face/Off (1997), The Prestige (2006) and Black Swan (2010) may…
“Avatar” vs. “FernGully: The Last Rainforest” – A Case of Plagiarism?
Although there has been a number of comparisons done recently between ‘Avatar’ (2009) and ‘FernGully’ (1992) (also ‘Pocahontas’ (1995) and ‘Dances with Wolves’ (1990)), I, nevertheless, have decided to take my own turn on the topic and ascertain the similarities between the two movies. In this piece, I will provide some evidence that demonstrate that ‘Avatar’ and ‘FernGully’ are so similar – both in plot lines and style (more so than many other films/stories), that, in my opinion, it was nearly impossible (for James Cameron) not to have in mind ‘FernGully’ when writing ‘Avatar’.
“Harry Potter” Films
It could be argued that the first two Harry Potter movies directed by Chris Columbus (“Home Alone” (1990)) were the best ones in the series in many ways: they were the most faithful to J.K. Rowling’s original stories; the casting choices could not have been any better there; and the movies had very logical and structured narratives. All these things were barely touched upon in the later Harry Potter films.
Explained: David Lynch’s “Mulholland Drive”
In Mulholland Drive, a person’s subconsciousness is on full display for us to see and try to make sense of. This intelligent and thought-provoking film is a real “brain-teaser” where appearances mislead, nothing is what it seems, and reality and wishful thinking intertwine.
Spotlight on Film 